posted on Jun, 9 2009 @ 03:53 AM
reply to post by sickoking
No its not like centurian, centurian is the land based phalanx. As far as I can tell from the available lit., this system cant track separate
individual targets at one time.
It tracks the closest target and directs 2 guns at it.Or it picks the 2 closest targets and directs 1 gun at each. Either way each fire control
systems can direct a combination 1 each of 30mm and 57mm or 2 x 30mm, in either radar, optical or tv tracking(manual mode). The newer sytems can
direct up to 6 30mm cannons.
All of these systems require ship borne radars to operate.
The phalanx only requires 440V 60Hrz 3phase electricity to operate since its a self contained system.
The phalanx and related systems are a closed loop feedback system. the radar and computers track out-going rounds and inbound threats and they merge
the two, the out going rounds are steered to the target.
Whereas target track only systems aim the gun where it predicts the target will be.
The other main difference is the ability of the newer phalanx systems is that they can do threat assesment and pick the target that is the greatest
threat.
Although the russian rotary cannon can acheive the max rate of fire quicker, the gas operating system has 2 deficencies. 1) By tapping barrel gases
for operational energy you lose muzzle velocity. It also adds to the complexity of the operating mechanism, which leads to more failures in mechanical
systems.
2) In an externaly powered system, if a round fails to fire it is automaticaly cleared from the chamber by the external power, whereas a gas fired
system will stop on a miss fire and have to be recharged.
I admit that my earlier assumption was in error, sort of.
They are very different sytems.